To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Psalm 139:1-6
The longing for relationship is one of our most basic desires as human beings. God is a relational God. Within the Trinity from eternity past, there has been perfect fellowship and communion between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Being made in the image of God means that we’re hard wired for relationships. Humanity was created to be in relationship with God, which is why worship is one of our most basic drives. If, in our sinful rebellion, we refuse to worship the true and living God, we will find someone or something else to worship. It’s a drive that can’t be suppressed. And then there are relationships with other people. God declared that it was not good for man to be alone. Being made in the image of God also creates within us a need for human companionship. Community. Fellowship.
The most devastating effect of sin is that it destroys relationships. Sin devastates our vertical relationship with God, and also damages our horizontal relationships with others. The effects of sin include not only condemnation, but estrangement and isolation.
These things are devastating in any age. Now add,
- the effects of living in a secular society like ours, where relationships tend to be superficial,
- the effects of living in a digital and social media age, which makes human interaction increasingly impersonal, and
- the busyness of daily life making the time required to build meaningful relationships increasingly scarce,
…and you have a recipe for isolation and loneliness. In today’s society, the cry of the soul is often “I feel anonymous. Does anyone know me? I feel invisible: Does anyone see me?”
The answer from Psalm 139 is a resounding yes. Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God, knows you and sees you perfectly.
In psalm 139, David is meditating on God’s penetrating knowledge of him, His inescapable presence with Him, and His sovereign purposes for him, leading David to some very practical conclusions. The Psalm can be separated into four sections of six verses. We’ll look at each section in a series of four posts.
In the first three sections, there’s a clear pattern: A statement about God, some examples, and a conclusion.
Section 1: Verses 1-6: The omniscient God knows me!
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
The idea is that “God has examined me.” God has studied me! He has scrutinized me! And as a result, David says, “He knows me.” In fact, in the original language, there’s no personal pronoun at the end of the sentence. It isn’t “You have searched me and known me,” it literally reads, “You have searched me, and you know.” God knows! Just think about it and let the truth of God’s omniscience draw out your heart in worship as it did David’s! God knows more than everything that has ever or will ever be known. He knows everything that can be known! Psalm 147 says “His understanding has no limit!” God’s knowledge is Universal: He knows everything that can be known. God’s knowledge is infallible: It is at all times perfectly clear. And God’s knowledge is eternal: He has never had to learn anything in the sense of gaining new information. He has always known everything that can be known with perfect clarity. God knows!
But David’s bringing this home on a personal level, isn’t he? And that’s what we want to do as well. David’s point is not simply that God “knows,” but that God “knows me.” Even though that personal pronoun isn’t there, that is the inference. “O LORD, you have searched me, and know.” Know what? Or know whom? Me! You know me. The God Who has always known everything that can be known with perfect clarity, knows me. God knows me, personally. God knows me, intimately. God knows me, thoroughly.
David gives some examples:
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar
The idea is that God knows when David sits down, when he rises up, and everything in between. We call this figure of speech a “merism”. David is essentially saying, “you know every move I make.” And then David says, “you discern my thoughts from afar.” That word for “thoughts” can also be translated “motives” or “intensions.” God doesn’t only know what we do; He also knows why we do it, and He “discerns” or “weights” or “evaluates” our motives and intentions. David says He does this “from afar.” That could mean “from afar in space” or “from afar in time.” But judging from the personal, intimate nature of this psalm, David is not writing of/praying to a God who is far away. More likely, David means “from afar in time,” or “from everlasting,” meaning that God not only knows in the present but from eternity past has always known not only everything David would do, but also why we would do it! In verse 3 David brings it into daily life:
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
“My path and my lying down” is the whole circle of daily life. “God, You are intimately acquainted with the minutia of my daily routine, and You “search out,” you “winnow,” you “sift” every one of the motives for everything I do over the course of a normal day.”
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
Just as “God discerns our thoughts from afar,” meaning God has always known not only everything we would do but also why we would do it, now David tells us that God not only hears every word we say, but He also knows them before we say them! And He knows them altogether, meaning He sees through the words to again, our true intensions behind them.
Remember the context. David is meditating on God’s omniscience and applying this awesome truth to his own life, devotionally and practically. The totality of my life – everything I would ever say, or do, or think, or feel, is not only seen and known by God but has always been known by God and evaluated by God, according to His perfect standards. And His conclusion—his reaction to these truths, at least at first—is understandable.
You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
When he says “You hem me in,” the word means “encircled, enclosed, squeezed, besieged.” You hem me in “behind and before.” On all sides. I’m surrounded! God’s penetrating knowledge of David makes him feel trapped. Surrounded. Overwhelmed! He says, you “lay your hand upon me.” It’s the idea of “cupping” something with your hand. His only conclusion is, “such knowledge is too wonderful for me!” “Wonderful” in the sense that “it fills me with wonder! It’s incomprehensible! It goes far beyond the scope of my finite human understanding. He says, “it is high; I cannot attain it.” God’s knowledge is like a high wall over which David is powerless.
David’s first impulse is to flee. But where could he go? Where can you hide from the God Who knows everything? Is that even the answer, or would we be better to embrace the truth of God’s perfect and penetrating knowledge of us, and live gladly in the light of His penetrating gaze? But how do we do that? We are fallen in sin, and God’s eyes are too pure to look upon evil. We’ll continue next time.
I leave you with this thought: God knows. He knows me completely. If He knows me completely, and I am in Christ, the forgiveness of sins and peace with God He extends to me in Christ are unassailable. God knows, and has always known every one of my thoughts, words, actions and motives with perfect clarity, evaluating them according to the standard of His perfect righteousness. He has all the evidence against me. I am deserving of His wrath, not His mercy. But because of God’s great love for sinners… because “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”, and because God, by grace, has enabled me to believe on His Son, God has applied the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross to my account, extended forgiveness to me, and dismissed His case against me. Even though my sins are red as scarlet, they have been washed white as snow (Isa 1:18). God’s perfect knowledge of me declares to me that this reality is settled in the heavens. I’ll never do anything that takes Him by surprise. He knows it all, and Christ paid it all, and by grace I am trusting in Christ, and I am free. What’s my response? “Hallelujah, what a Savior!”
If you are reading this, and you are not yet trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, God knows. He knows you completely. He has always known every one of your thoughts, words, actions and motives with perfect clarity, evaluating them according to the standard of His perfect righteousness. He has all the evidence against you. You are deserving of His wrath, not His mercy. But because of God’s great love for sinners… because “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”, forgiveness of sins and peace with God are held out to you today. God’s command to you is: “repent, and believe in the Gospel.” (Mark 1:15) Stop running from the God you know is there—the God you were created to know, love, worship, trust, and obey—the God Who sent His Son into the world to absorb God’s wrath on behalf of all who would trust in Him and Who freely and finally forgives and receives all who look to Christ for salvation. Turn away from a lifestyle of sin and rebellion, and “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31). Through faith in Christ, God extends forgiveness to you based on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, dismisses His case against you, and receives you as His child.
May God bless these wonderful truths to our souls.